Study month post!! :)

So long time no see... :P

Total apologise for not posting for 2 weeks you guys but I'm currently in the middle of study months before my 11 ( yes that's right 11 :'( ) exams in May!

Every waking minute is spent either studying, sleeping or gymming ! :L

So this is just going to be a quick blog about my new favourites/ what I'm up to these days!!



So let's start with the gym!

I've been finding it really difficult to fit in gym-library-friends at the minute so gym has taken a bit of a back seat currently although I still manage to make it about twice a week which I think is good going!

What I'm doing more of now is running!

I've really gotten into doing a new route that's about 6km and I've been recording some great times.

As well as running I've gotten into doing home exercise routines. Now I am a self confessed tone it up girl but my new fitness crush is Cassey Ho's blogilates!! She is a trained pilates instructor who has started her own brand of "POP PILATES" which is basically high tempo pilates done in rhythm to songs. She has loads of posts on youtude and my good guys her workouts are killer!!!

Tuesday I was too busy to gym so I decided to do Half and hour of her video's and I've been sooooo stiff the last two days! I feel like I've done so much more than I do in the gym. 
You have to try her total body workout and her victoria secrets abs workout!

They are by far the best I've ever done!!!

Find her website here!!

Victoria Secret's Abs workout

Total Body workout




 My sister Orla and I also went to Tinie Tempah concert last week!

Had such a great time and really enjoyed ourselves!

Even blagged our way into the priority lounge ;)

Also my new snack obsession are these Ryvita crisps!

They are sooooo good and a really tasty snack for work or study.

They're only 90 calories and 1.9grams of fat so how can complain!

I have the salt and vinegar multipack at the moment but I'm dying to try other flavours next week

As I've said my gym sessions have gotten a bit rare these days and when I go I usually don't have a lot of time so I've developed a love for fast sprint interval training!

Sprint intervals are a great way to get your heart and muscles pumping before weights etc. 

They also are important to help fat burn and aerobic fitness

My favourite routine so far is the toneit up cupid's cardio workout where I usually do 3km in 15mins which is pretty good!

I after 6 repeats of 30 second sprint 1 minute jog I usually up it to 30 seconds sprint 30 second jog! 
I would really recommend it to anyone who is getting bored  of just running 5km straight at the same pace or anyone who is sort on time!

That's all guys! Sorry I couldn't post anymore I'm running out of time but I'll try to blog over the weekend again! :)

LOVE!
xxx

Races and surprise weekend!

As I mentioned I had some social events this week….

On thursday we had student race day! 

It was soooo much fun betting €1-€2 euros on any random horse (mainly a name we liked!) :P

I went with my housemate Jenny and our friends Shauna, Karen, Ellen, Nicole, Sarah and Claire

                                            

This is me and my housemate Jenny! :)

My dress is from misguided and belt is topshop!

Jenny's dress and necklace are both Zara

                                

                                       

Me with Megan, Ellen and Karen!

 Later that night we went clubbing to celebrate the end of college!
Here is what I wore going out!
My skirt is from Tobi (online shop)
My top belongs to Jenny and it was from berska!

I really liked this outfit because it was so summery!
The white skirt as swell was really flattering!

This is me and Joanne my other housemate taking bathroom selfie!!

 Aine , Joanne and Maria( of swearbytheblonde fame!) and I taking photos in the Photo Booth using our phones because we're too cheap to pay :P

As a TOTAL surprise this weekend my AMAZING boyfriend Tim decided to give me an early anniversary present for our 1st year as a couple! Our actual anniversary is in May but we are packed with exams that week so He decided to organise a weekend away in a 4 star hotel! :)

Our lovely complimentary package of strawberries, chocolates and Pressco!

Yuuuum delicious Lily O Briens chocolates! Whihc I might have munched! :P

Tim and I enjoying our glass of Presseco ,lounging in bed!

I'm just after the most amazing deep tissue massage and have an indian head massage in a while now! :)

We're also going out for tapas tonight!

EEEEPP excited!! :D

I'll keep you updated :)

What I ate this week :)

Hello all! :)

Apologise for the lack of posting this week but its been really hectic between finish college, exams, assignments and going out with friends!

So this week I had loads of college work to finish up before we stop for study month! I had a lot of meals on the run so only took some photos of special stuff :P

Here's some chargrilled pepper and tomato soup I bought! Its actually a telco's finest range and it was really nice and rich and I added some goats cheese on top and had a low-fat yoghurt too!

All week I bought lunch boxes of fruit to the library with me. They were a good snack that gave me energy but also something to pick at (other than sweets and chocolate!! :P) 

 This lunch box was all orange fruit :L I had nectarines, cantaloupe, mango and papaya, but really you can use any fruit you have lying around!

Here is a really simple Asian style chicken broth I made late one night! It took 15minutes and lasted me 3 days! 

• I basically fried off half a chilli, some ginger, 2 cloves of garlic in a little coconut oil. 
• Then I added about 1 litre of good low sodium chicken stock, added my 2 chicken fillets , a goooood dash of soy sauce, some more chilli and garlic. 
• I cooked this at a high heat till my chicken was cooked.
•  Then I removed the chicken and shredded it. 
• While doing this I placed some noddles in  the stock, added back in the chicken and some bak choi and Voila!! 

Really filing, hearty and very budget friendly!

And of course we all deserve our treats! :P
Here is mine- a delicious chocolate creme egg cupcake!
To be honest I much preferred the icing and the inside surprise to the actually cupcake itself! :P

I promise I'll post more food next week with some more recipes!

Much love xx

Diets! : What works and what doesn't!

This is a huge topic especially going into Summer and Bikini Season so I thought I'd give my opinion!

There's always that one day when everyone looks in the mirror and sees that bloated belly, wobbly thighs and saggy bum and immediately deicide's "Thats its I'm making a change!"

Fair play if you've got the motivation to change your lifestyle but it is important that you go about this the right way and make it sustainable in the long run!

Many people want to loose weight as fast as they can but don't realise that with many of these faddy diet's you put the weight straight back on once you begin eating normally!

Being healthy and fit is a serious commitment that doesn't come easy! It's something that is painstaking and doesn't always give immediate effects and will sometimes leave you feeling gutted that you haven't lost weight but TRUST ME in the long run if you work at it you'll get much better rewards than from a faddy one month diet!

I've tried looooads of diets in my the last 2 years ( 5:2 diet, atkins, liquid diet , Paleo etc.) , have had people telling me how their moher's sisiter's son's girlfriend lost 3 stone by eating only cabbage and broccoli and have read so many stupid articles on websites boasting that "experts" say the new way to loose weight is blah blah blah!!

YOU JUST GET SICK OF IT!

But lets be realistic here guys, I'm going to break it down on a scientific level:

Human physiology is built on the basis of SURVIVAL

Our brain's are trained to eat lots when food is plentiful (traditionally the summer months) to compensate for when food is scares (in the winter) !

Our body is also trained to like sugar and crave sugary foods as glucose is our bodies favourite source of energy! Our body "treats us" to a release of dopamine ( this is a kind of pleasure chemical released from the brain that gives us a happy/uplifted feeling. The brain also releases it in a response to certain drugs like heroin) once we ingest foods like chocolate to give us a reward for providing it with glucose.

Obviously though too much glucose is a serious issue! Any leftover glucose not used for energy is converted in to adipose fats which remain in our body!

Another issue with human physiology is starvation. From neolithic times our ancestors were able to withstand long periods with little to no food. Why?

Because of something called starvation mode.

Once we begin to eat below a certain amount of calories a day (usually 1000) our body will work extra hard to process and extract all the energy in the little amount of food we eat which in turn leads to less fat being converted to energy and therefore very little weight loss! Our bodies will also become accustomed to surviving on small amounts of food that the minute we begin to introduce more calories our body immediately converts them to fat because it thinks it's "saving" ourselves from starvation!

So how does that scientific information translate to everyday life?

Well it basically tell us that even though we might loose weight on 2 week or one month diets, inevitably we will begin to crave sugary/fatty foods again, cave into our cravings and our body will use all this extra food and calories to produce more fat!

So basically after working so hard at trying to loose weight for a month you usually end up the same weight or weighing more!

Totally disheartening isn't it?

But should we give up?  NO!

The reason why most of these diets don't work is because we deny ourselves soo much food! Eating tiny portions of disgusting foods will get you no where!

That's why I firmly believe in a balanced diet similar to what The tone it up plan promotes, Taralynn Mcnitt and any qualified nutritionist will tell you to follow!!

You should be eating 5 small meals a day mainly made up of fruits, vegetables, complex cards, nuts , seeds and proteins!

These meals will fill you up and not make you feel miserable and like your denying yourself from all of life's treats!

You might not loose weight fast but you will loose weight that will stay off most importantly!

And here another dieting tip: 

Enjoy a cheat or YOLO meal every once in a while! 

You can't keep yourself from all of life's little treats so one bad meal or one dessert is not going to outdo you eating well 90% of the time!

The only diet we should follow is a balanced healthy one along side with exercise! There's no quick fix method to loose weight only a very simple one that involves patience and dedication!

So that's my little rant over!

I hope I didn't bore you all too much but I feel this is an important topic that people really need to educate themselves on! :)

**One more quick Link**
My friend Maria has a seriously amazing fashion blog callled swear by the blonde! It has amazing outfits, bargain buys and loads of trend watching too. So any fashionista's out there serrriously have to check out this blog here! 

Much love all
xxxx

Seven day slim down: Day 6 and 7

I'm so sorry I couldn't actually post these on Sunday and Saturday but my internet at home was awful! So without further ado....

For breakfast on Saturday I had a bowl of alpen no added sugar museli with some almond milk which comes in around 180 calories!

For whatever reason I was really craving some kind of cereal with milk for a change! I think I got a bit sick of smoothies and fruit all the time :P

My cat mittens was not impressed at me eating all the cereal without her! :p

For my mid-morning snack I had half a grape fruit! They were really sweet and delicious but if you prefer it sweeter than I recommend sprinkling some stevia over it :)

After my afternoon snack I decided to do my usual 5 km uphill run because the weather was absolutely smashing and I needed to get out of the house!

Here's a picture I took at the top of the hill after 2.5km! 

I also put it on my instagram page as well! There's a link for it just above my bio and you can follow it to see photos of my day-to-day life!

For Lunch, I went out with my sister to a local cafe called Jim's and we sat outside because it was so sunny!

I got a sweet chili prawn with a peach salad! It was light enough but gave me a really good kick too!

I made some plum, soy and ginger chicken for dinner!

I was craving some Chinese takeaway but obviously couldn't afford the calories so I made his healthy but just as delicious version! (many thanks to my housemate Joanne for this recipe!)

Sunday I started the day with Alpen again because I enjoyed so much Saturday morning!

For my mid-morning snack and afternoon snack I had a half a grapefruit!

I went for a 3.5 km run Sunday as well followed by a tone it up bikni series workout!

My muscles were really sore after the week long of running and exercise :/

However I struggled on with it as it was my last day! 

For lunch I was in a rush but my Mom had picked up an innocent noodle pot on Friday shopping. I was tempted to try it as it looked really good and at only 197 calories I had to try it!

It was really delicious and the shitake mushrooms and miso sauce gave it a rich almost meaty flavour! 

I must say I'd recommend it for anyone to try and I'd like to try more stuff from there range!

Like any traditional Irish family my mother was adamant we were to have a nice roast dinner!

She made a roast chicken but I opted for healthy sides! Instead of fatty mashed potatoes or stuffing I had wilted spinach, mashed carrots and parsnips, broccoli and brussell sprouts!

So it goes to show just because your dieting doesn't mean you have to avoid eating with your family or friends in case of breaking your dieting!

I celebrated St.Patricks day with a wild and rather unforgettable night with my friends last night! :P This is me and my friend Ellen celebrating our Irish-ness! :P

And so there it is folks!

My 7 day slim down completed!!

Its been really long and tough for only 1 week but I managed it!

I'm going to do a post tomorrow about weight loss results and after pictures.

Sorry I couldn't post them all tonight I just don't have time!

Much love!

xxxxx

Seven day slim down challenge: Day 2

So guys...

Woke up this morning, still a bit sore from the kettlebells yesterday, but eager non the less to go to the gym for a morning session!!

Before I went I made my kale and spinach smoothie as planned!

I love my smoothie cups because they're really hand to drink from in the car or on the go. 

I use the kenwood smoothie-go machine which usually sells for about €30 in most shops, it an AMAZING smoothie maker and come with 2 cups but most importantly its soooo easy to clean! 

It totally gets my approval! :P

At the gym I started off by doing a very handy 4km, I ran at about 10.5km/hr for 3km and sprinted at 13km/hr for the last kilometer. I also did a quick warm up/warm down!

It was a very handy pace as I was a bit sore and needed an easy cardio session! :)

Afters I went down to the weights room which is thankfully quiet in the mornings!

I'll save my fully weights room routine till my thursday post as I haven't any photos of any of the equipment or how many reps I did today but here's a guide-line if your interested!

• Lunges on a medium step with 8 kg weights ( 20 each leg)
• Double leg Lunges across the room followed by squat jumps on step (x3)
• Squat bar- 20x 20kgs and 50x 25kgs
• assisted chin lifts (x30)
• Arm weights rountine (press ups, tricep and bicep exercises with 4kg weights)
• Core/Ab work

All in all I spend about 55 minutes in the weights room and I was happy with what I did :)

**Not the best picture but this is my new top from H&M and it cost €9.95**

After gym I had my blueberry, banana and almond butter bites :)

They were absolutely delicious and tasted like a dessert and were exactly the pick me up I needed after the gym and before college! :)

I had college today till 2pm so afters I came home and reheated my stuffed mushrooms I made last night! They were pretty simple to make, I basically  mixed my tomato topping from last nights dinner, added some goat cheese and baked for 15 minutes :)

And Hey presto!

I had it with some rocket and watercress salad :)

I didn't have any afternoon snack today mainly because I forgot to bring one to the library but trust me I was starving before dinner!!

Finally, I was making dinner for myself and my boyfriend Tim tonight.

It was basically the same tomato topping as last night but I put mine on chicken instead of hake for a change.

I also made a simple salad with my watercress and rocket leaves, feta, sunflower seeds and a balsamic reduction.

I love putting sunflower seeds into my salads recently! They add a really nice crunch and are so rich in protein and unsaturated fats, I can't resist! :P

To finish it off I made some simply roasted courgettes, mushrooms, onions, garlic and peppers :)

I made Tim some cumin and paprika spiced sweet potato chips too but since I had already had a starchy carb today I decided to give them a miss

Tim's plate:

My plate:

Here's my meal plan for tomorrow:

1. M1- egg whites with spinach

        Run

2. M2-handful blueberries

3. M3- 1 mushroom with rice salad

4. M4- yoghurt, 1 piece fruit

        Gym(kettlebells)

5. M5- turkey burgers, salad

Planning on runing a 5km tomorrow morning with Tim (should be fun :P) and a kettlebells class in the evening! :)

More updates tomorrow :)

xxxxxx

Tone it up seven day slim down!

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!! 

This week i decided to give myself a bit of a challenge...

I've decided to do the Tone it up 7 day slim down!!


Its a tough regime of a low fat, low carb, low sugar diet that focuses on high protein and lots of vegetables and fruits and 2 workout sessions a day!

EEEEEPPPPPP!!! :O


I hope it goes well! :P

Here's the basic schedule to fill!

M1( or meal 1) = breakfast
M2= mid morning snack
M3= lunch
M4= mid afternoon/ pre- gym snack
M5= dinner


You are also supposed to fit in 2 workouts, one being a 30 minute cardio workout (preferably in the morning as an AM burn,this can be running, walking, cycling,cross trainer, stepping machine.... ANYTHING!)  , the second being a hour long strengthening/toning workout (in the evening). For my second workout il be focusing on kettlebells, body conditioning and tone it up workouts!

I'm going to find it hard to fit in 2 workouts but I'll try getting up early to go for a run and then maybe do a class in my local gym before dinner!


You can sign up for membership to the tone it up nutrition plan which has 100's of good recipe's to follow and exercise routines but they also have lots of free material on the Tone it up website(link here!) as well!

Here my meal schedule for tomorrow! :)

Day 1

1.       M1-Kale smoothie

2.       M2- 2 rice cakes and almond butter

3.       M3- broccoli, turkey, feta and beetroot salad

4.       M4- yoghurt, 1 piece fruit

5.       M5- baked hake, tomato basil topping with asparagus +green beans

  

My fitness will be a 30 minutes run in the morning and a kettlebell class in the evening!

I hope it goes well and il keep you up to date with a new blog post tomorrow! :)

Smoothie Recipes!!

Hey guys!

Sooo I haven't posted since Monday ... whoops :P

I've been really busy to be honest, I visited one of my friends in Limerick on Tuesday and then the last two days I've been focusing on studying for my summer exams in May :(

But hey I've some free time now so lets get cracking! 

Firstly I told you all to treat yourselves to a pancake on Tuesday so I thought I'd show you my GORGEOUS pancake

 It was absolutely delicious!! Mine just had caramel and chocolate sauce but It was so good! 


I love smoothies! They are so fast to make and delicious in the morning, as a desserts or a mid afternoon before the gym!

Here are my two favourite recipes!

Kale and Spinach smoothie(thanks aine for the recipe)
Ingredients:
Handful of Kale (stems removed)
Handful of spinach
1 banana
1 lemon (rind removed)
4 good slices of cucumber
250ml of apple juice


Simple blitz all the ingredients together!

This smoothie is totally simple but reallllly delicious!!!
The lemon gives it a really refreshing taste and the apple juice and banana acts as a sweetener!! 

You honestly cant taste the kale or spinach!

Tropical berry smoothie

                                         

  Ingredients:

Handful of mixed berries (I used raspberries and blackberries)

0% fat natural yoghurt

250ml of pineapple juice

1 banana

1 kiwi

Again blitz it all up, so simple!!

This is a really refreshing smoothie given a nice twist with the pineapple and kiwi!!

 Here's just a quick snap of the dinner I bought to Limerick!!
Its a really simple salad with some roasted veggies, cucumber, feta and turkey with some watercress, rocket ans spinach

Really simple and I like bringing my own food if I'm staying with someone!
That way I'm no burdening anyone and I can control what I eat :)

Let's Move it Monday!!

Hey guys!

Hope no one's suffering from Monday blues!

I love Mondays (unlike most people :P)

I think Monday is always such a great day to start fresh and forget about the gym session you skipped last week or the overindulgence of the weekend (or week :P)

I always love having a really good gym session on a Monday to get me moving for the week!!

Today I did a spinning class in my local gym the mardyke!

It was the perfect high intensity workout that I needed and honestly the hour flew by!

We did 

• 12 minutes of sprints (30 seconds sprint and 30 second recover)
• 15 minutes of resistance "standing" cycling and hoovering (30 seconds on, 20 seconds off)
• 15 minutes of hill training (1 minute high resistance 30 seconds low resistance)
• 2 minutes of arm push up's while standing cycling
• 5 minutes warm up and 5 minute warm down also!

I didn't feel very tired leaving the gym but my legs are starting to stiffen up now so I had a Perfect Fit Protein shake. 

Perfect fit protein is an AMAZING vegan, organic protein shake made by Tone it Up! 

Not only is it good for you but it also tastes delicious!!

You can also use it in loads of recipes such as waffles, pancakes, smoothies and even CAKE!! I'll put up more recipes using it in the coming weeks!

Here's a quick snap of my dinner tonight 

Really basic!! Some grilled turkey breast, sweet potato mash, roasted veggies (mushrooms,green beans, cauliflower,peppers and onion) with some feta and relish too!

Totally delicious, high in protein and packed with vitamins+fibre  from my roasted veggie mix!!

Tomorrow (as we all know) is pancake Tuesday a.k.a the best day ever!!!

I am a FIRM believer that a little bit of what you fancy won't hurt you! So of course I will enjoy a pancake tomorrow (with loooots of nutella :D) because I have eaten clean and gone to the gym all last well and hell yeah I deserve a treat! :P

So enjoy your tursday because I know I will ;)

sweet dreams xxxx

Tapas Friday and Saturday Fitness :)

Hello weekend!! <3

It's the weekend (finally)!! 

Last night one of the friends organised a night out for us at a local Tapas Bar!

It was such a fun night!!

We tried loooooads of different dishes, including meatballs, crab claws, garlic peri peri prawns, bread and dips, patatas bravas ( potatoes cooked in a spicy tomato sauce it was delicious!), chicken wings, chorizo and red wine and a cheese board!

The food was scrumptious 

We all picked away at different dishes, drank wine and chatted it was a lovely girls night!

It was also a great meal out for dieter or someone watching their weight!
Mainly because instead of being presented with a large plate of food you feel obliged to eat your allowed to pick and choose what you'd like to eat, for example I limited my intake of the breads and nacho's and then ate more of the shellfish and meatballs, but at the same time I could try everything in small amounts without feeling guilty about the calories because the portions were tiny!
Also you didn't feel like you had to eat loads or finish a portion as there were 8 other people to share it with!!


All in all I really enjoyed it and I will definitely go again and post more photos of the food (I didn't get many photos of the food as it was gone so fast :P)

Today  after last nights small indulgence I did a 5km run today
I was quite slower than normal (about 5.30 minutes a kilometre)  but 2kms of my run were steep uphill, it was a lot of climbing and quiet hard!! However I enjoyed it!

Just a pretty photo I took while running of where I live! :)

Also I thought it would be nice to post up some photos of my body and what I look like since I'm trying to advise you on what to eat and exercise! Here a few pictures my sister took with me this morning and I know I'm not the thinnest or toned but I think I'm quiet athletic and have got some muscle definition and never judge anyone who puts themselves out there :P

                               **Ignore my messy hair and hallway :P**

 These are my Nike LunarGlide 5 in pink! I'm obsessed with them!! They are great for running (road and treadmill) and are flexible enough for gym work and classes! Also they suit my foot type as the have built in floating heel-support clip which helps keep the back of the foot from rolling inward or outward upon landing!! I would seriously recommend investing in a pair!